30 June 2012

A Photographic Tour of Barnes Bay

Totally unrelated photo, but who doesn't like to see Buddha raising the roof?

That's right, the moment you've ALL been waiting for has finally arrived. And if you've not been waiting for it, perhaps you shouldn't admit that in public. I love Barnes Bay, and though it's not the prettiest of Anguilla's beaches, I love the character of this stretch of sand. At no point does the architecture really overwhelm the setting (not like Turtles Nest on Meads Bay, for example), and it tends to be pretty quiet, which is exactly how we like our beaches. From (more-or-less) east to west along the beach (or for the directionally challenged, that's left-to-right when your back is to the ocean. Good thing this is not Hawai'i because you're never supposed to turn your back to the ocean there. But I digress.). For an added challenge, see if you can guess which one of these places cost more per night than what I'm paying per week:

Here is the last of the Viceroy villas--I only took a picture of one of them, but by all means, please visualize several of these in a row. They are all, I believe, 4 bedrooms. A lot of people don't like the Viceroy's architecture, but I think it's attractive, albeit in a stark and hurricane-withstanding way.

Next is my own little home-away-from home. There are six units at Caribella, one on each floor of the three buildings, offering two bedrooms apiece.

Now we have Mango's, one of the premier restaurants on Anguilla. They're especially great if you're in the mood for seafood, carrot puree, apple tart, or raspberry sorbet. The second photograph shows the erosion that has occurred just in the last week or so.

The Limin' Beach House. That's a pretty casual name for a 5-bedroom luxury beach villa. Interesting architecture on this one. Usually the concrete vaults on top are open (well, glassed-in) but they have these new things covering them up. One presumes they are for hurricane season. Or perhaps just to cut down on the a/c bill.

Seen from water line

Peeking through the seagrapes

This is perhaps the most overlooked villa on Barnes Bay, both literally and figuratively, because it sits in the shadow of those seagrapes and the huge villas on either side of it. It's Villa Ella, and the bottom floor is available to rent. It's one of the best beachfront values on Anguilla, in my opinion.

Next up is the once-mighty Cerulean. Somebody bought it a little over a year ago and it was gorgeous. Then they proceeded to do some restorative demolition and recreate something that looks surprisingly similar to the original. I don't know how long before it will become inhabitable again.

Arbron Villas are beloved by a fellow TA poster and owned by a different branch of the same family who own Caribella (I think that's right). There are four buildings (two behind the ones shown in the front), and they offer various configurations of 2, 3, or 4 bedrooms, depending on how many floors you stay on. There's also a pool, which Caribella doesn't have.

The last villa that can be safely said to be on the beach (as opposed to on the cliffs) is one of my two favorite villas on the entire island: Les Alize. (Not sure why they make the article plural and the noun singular, but hey--that's their call, not mine.) I love the mix of Bali and southwestern influence. And that daybed--I could get a lot of reading done there every day, I feel sure. What's more, it sits directly above my favorite swimming cove on the island, with stairs that lead down to the sand. I also love that it looks so natural sitting up there amidst the palms, not standing out in stark contrast to announce its importance presence.

That concludes our Barnes Bay tour for the day. Please tune in next time for more Anguilla adventures, or perhaps an actual book review.

About Me

Reading and travel are my two main obsessions--everything else just falls into a distant third place. A reader by birth and a bookseller by trade, I mainly devour fiction, though anything by Bill Bryson would make my laminated list. I like the classics but I especially love modern fiction, Southern writers, and books set in the Caribbean, my favorite place to travel. I work hard year 'round at a wonderful local independent bookshop, so that I can earn enough money to travel a little. I wanted my blog to be simply As the Crowe Flies, but alas, that name was already taken. So now I fly AND read and all is well.

Legal Stuff

This part is no fun but apparently it needs to be said. All content, including text and photographs of the Caribbean, are mine unless otherwise noted. Or, you know, unless it's obviously a film still or book jacket cover or whatnot. Please do not use it for yourself or your website unless you ask permission first and link back to this site. (That means you, www.anguilla-anguilla.com!)